Born on the Fourth of July

Starring: Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J Barry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley, Caroline Kava, Stephen Baldwin, Tom Sizemore
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
1989

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) is paralyzed in the Vietnam War and returns to the United States, battling despair before eventually becoming an anti-war advocate.

Review:

Tim: This is a film that tries to position itself as a powerful biopic but ends up appearing a bit silly and vastly underwhelming. The movie seems to give us a great deal of backstory, slowly but surely building up to some memorable conclusion... and then, the movie ends and we are still waiting for the point, the reason, the answer to why we're watching this person's life. The movie ends in ridiculous fashion and we're left feeling cheated.

Tom Cruise pretty much silenced his critics with this role. He seldom changes himself for roles, but he is pretty impressive here. Some of the scenes with his family- after returning from war are specimens of quality acting (although they are a bit whiny and annoying).

The supporting cast is fairly weak. Willem Dafoe is decent, but by no means strong. Kyra Sedgwick starts the film off strong, but ruins that by having an utter lack of chemistry with Cruise (and don't worry, I blame Cruise for this as well).

The Vietnam War scenes are pretty forgettable. The paralysis scene is decent, but not great. The Mexico scenes seem superflous.

The main reason to watch this movie involves the scenes when Cruise must deal with his paralysis. The Veterans' hospital scenes stick out as the most emotional and memorable of the film. They are truly horrifying. Sadly, besides this and Cruise's emotional difficulty ("Who's going to love me?"), the film is pretty weak. Oliver Stone has a particular problem with movie length, and this film is entirely too long at 2 hours, 25 minutes (although it abruptly stops the story it is telling at the end). Born on the Fourth of July will probably not impress you too much.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Alexander, JFK, Nixon, The Last Samurai, Magnolia